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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 2004)
Gunfire by cop noted Two new I.V. stations need lifts, says state A Josephine County Sheriff’s Office deputy fired one shot at man who ran after a traffic stop in Cave Junction and displayed what was thought to be a gun, said Undersheriff Brian Anderson. The fired round missed during the incident that oc- curred at approximately 2:41 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 12 in the 1000 block of Daisy Hill Road. Arrested by Deputy Mike Burke was Anthony John Slovick, 40, address unavailable. He was taken to county jail on the following charges: Parole violation (no bail), felony and misde- meanor eluding, reckless driving, recklessly endan- gering another, driving un- der the influence of an in- toxicant, and possession of a controlled substance/ methamphetamine. Anderson gave the fol- lowing account: Burke at- tempted to stop a vehicle driven by Slovick, who re- fused to halt, and a pursuit ensued. The suspect eventually stopped on Daisy Hill Road. He fled on foot, and Burke went after him. During the foot pursuit, Slovick sud- denly stopped and turned toward the deputy. Burke saw a dark metal- lic object in Slovick’s hand, and believing it to be a gun fired one round from his handgun. The round missed the suspect, and Burke took By SHANE WELSH Staff Writer Illinois Valley Fire Dis- trict (IVFD) Station 2 con- struction in Selma is nearly ready to begin. Bond measure 17.86, approved by voters in No- vember 2002, allowed $2.5 million for the fire district project, which includes sta- tions 1, 2 and 3 in Cave Junction, Selma and O’Brien respectively. During an IVFD Board of Directors meeting Wednesday night, Dec. 8 at the district administrative headquarters, Chief Harry Rich updated the board on progress being made to fi- nalize construction plans. “As it stands right now, the permit process is almost complete,” said Rich. “Hopefully by Monday or Tuesday (this week), we should have a Batzer trailer on our property,” said Rich, referring to the construction company contracted to build the new station 2. “We’re (also) in the middle of removing trees from the O’Brien area,” said the chief. He detailed several problems that will need to be addressed before con- struction can begin on sta- tions 1 and 2. “Josephine County Building and Safety has interpreted that we need elevators in our two-story buildings; which are stations (Continued on page 7) Council cooperates with rezone request by IVFD Following are the high and low temperatures and rainfall from O’Brien, as recorded by Cheryl and Harry Johnson. *Fri. Dec. 3: 40-29. *Sat. Dec. 4: 50-25. *Sun. Dec. 5: 44-39; .08 inches of rain. *Mon. Dec. 6: 46-36; 3.23 inches of rain. *Tues. Dec. 7: 48-41; 2.44 inches of rain. *Wed. Dec. 8: 54-43; 6.46 inches of rain. *Thurs. Dec. 9: 58-53; 2.01 inches of rain. Cave Junction Wednesday, Dec. 15 Partly sunny High--48, Low--25. Thursday, Dec. 16 Variable clouds High--50, Low--24. Friday, Dec. 17 Variable clouds High--48, Low--25. Saturday, Dec. 18 Partly cloudy High--50, Low--28. Sunday, Dec. 19 Mostly sunny High--49, Low--35. Monday, Dec. 20 Sunny High--52, Low--35. Tuesday, Dec. 21 Mostly sunny High--51, Low--32. 1 (Cave Junction) and 2,” said Rich. “Our fire station is mixed use, which falls under Oregon Statute ORS 447.247,” he said. “Under section 1.6 falls the exemp- tion that if we prevail, we won’t have to have any kind of elevator,” he said. Rich met with Dave Bassett, director of Jose- phine County Building and Safety, to discuss the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirement. “It was determined that we will have to install a wheelchair lift in both sta- tions in order to satisfy the requirement,” said Rich. “It will cost approximately $30,000 for both lifts; which we will take out of the bond money we obtained for the project.” Rich said that another problem is, “when Batzer submitted our plans to Cave Junction, it was informed that tax lot 904, which is next to the fire station (in CJ), had never been zoned from residential to public. “The city requires a $1,200 application fee and 45 days to make that zone adjustment; that would put us into April of next year for building station 1. “I wrote a letter to city council and asked them to waive the $1,200 fee, the $100 cost to remove the trees on that property, and the 45-day wait,” said Rich. Various fees waived to speed station building HOLIDAY SCENES - Santa Claus visits the lighting of the Community Christmas Tree on the JI lot Saturday, Dec. 11 and threw the switch to light the tree. (Also see Bob’s Corner on page 2, and page 4 photo). Celenia Konich (bottom photo), a Lovejoy Hospice home health aide, lights the remembrance candle during the annual Light Up A Life ceremony Tuesday, Dec. 7 in Immanuel United Methodist Church in Cave Junction. By MICHELLE BINKER Staff Writer Citing urgent need to replace aging structures, Illinois Valley Fire District (IVFD) Chief Harry Rich sought help from the Cave Junction City Council to hasten construction of a new Station 1 on Caves Hwy. “This fire station is sorely needed in this city,” Rich said Monday night, Dec. 13 in city hall, describ- ing leaking conditions in the old building, which prompted IVFD to relocate its administration offices. Progress on the new building was put on hold after it was discovered that the planned site for the sta- tion had not been rezoned public after it was purchased by IVFD several years ago. The property, unlike the station’s current location next door, is within the city limits, and is currently zoned SR (single-family residential). Rich asked the council to waive the $1,200 zone- change application fee and $100 zone-clearance charge, and asked that construction be allowed to commence while the 45-day application process is under way. City Recorder Jim noted the option of a conditional- use permit, which would allow the station to be built regardless of the zoning. IVFD would have to submit an application and $600 fee for the permit, Polk said. But Councilman Rita Dyer opined, “I think it’s better for the fire district in the long run that the prop- erty be zoned ‘public’.” Although the council could not eliminate the proc- essing time for the permit or rezoning, it pondered waiv- ing the fees. While considering waiving fees, Councilman and Mayor-elect Tony Paul- son said to Rich, “If the city waives the fees, (which would have been paid from money generated by a tax- payer-approved bond meas- ure), then Cave Junction taxpayers will be the ones who pay.” Rich, showing some impatience with the issue, shot back, “The city...will benefit from the station, or not...it’s up to you.” In the end it was de- cided that the district would apply for the zone change and the conditional-use per- mit, which, if approved, would allow the contracting firm, Batzer Inc., of Med- ford, to begin building in January. The council voted 5-0 to waive $1,800 in application fees. The $100 zone- clearance charge remains. SUSAN CHAPP Water work nets award for Chapp Ten watershed workers and volunteers -- including Susan Chapp of Illinois Val- ley -- have been recognized for their contributions by the Oregon Watershed En- hancement Board (OWEB). Chapp, active in water- shed issues, is a charter member and current chair- man of Illinois Basin Inter- est Group (IBIG) Forestry Action Committee (FAC). Awards were given dur- ing OWEB’s eighth biennial conference in Ashland. Chapp’s volunteer ef- forts were recognized for the Rogue Basin area. She was cited as a community volun- teer for FAC and “truly a community motivator. “Her efforts,” said OWEB, “have helped resi- dents understand the con- nections between their suc- cess and environmental health. “Her projects have in- cluded riparian tree-planting projects, noxious weed con- trol, and education work with mushroom pickers” including programs to bring together valley pickers and those from out of the area for mutual education, under- standing and cooperation. The nomination for Chapp reads: “Illinois Val- ley looks differently because of Susan Chapp. “She shows the connec- tion between citizen care and environmental health through personal effort. Susan has been a doer and a motivator in her community. “Her love, devotion and tireless commitment to im- prove and bring together her community are nothing short of inspiring. “Susan believes in edu- cation, involvement and self-empowerment, as evi- denced through work with the IBIG FAC projects such as the annual volunteer tree- planting, noxious weed re- moval and the work with the mushroom community. “She has been a leader in conservation and restora- tion, and in Illinois Valley she is truly a community motivator.” The governor’s “Spirit” awards are sponsored by Oregon lottery funds, ap- proved for that purpose by voters in 1998. Since then, lottery funds have contributed $213 mil- lion through OWEB to wa- tershed groups. During 2004, 277 grants funded projects restoring water- sheds and salmon habitat.
